Drive All Night – When the Caps and Leafs met for the first time this season in Washington on Nov. 13, Lars Eller was the subject of an impromptu press conference during the first intermission. A day earlier, the Caps announced they had reacquired the veteran center from Pittsburgh, some 20 months after Washington had traded him to Colorado at the 2023 NHL trade deadline.
Now 10 games into his second stint of duty with the Capitals, Eller and linemates Handrix Lapierre and Andrew Mangiapane have strung together a good stretch of games, giving the Caps another trio that is capable of driving play and producing offense.
The line has played just under 50 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey in a span of seven games together, but they’ve dominated their share of shot attempts (68.54%), shots (56.76%), scoring chances for (73.33%) and high danger scoring chances for (63.64%) in that small sample size. They’ve scored two of the three goals scored when all three are on the ice together.
“I think we've been good,” says Lapierre. “Obviously, as hockey players, you always know you have another step that you can gain. So we've been good, but we know we can be even better. We've scored some big goals, made some big plays. We are playing in the [offensive] zone, which is always good as a line; you want to spend as much time there as you can.
“Lars and Mangi make it super easy. Mangi likes to talk a lot, and Lars talks when he has something to say, and he's always at the right spots, and he's got a lot of experience. So it's been fun playing with these two, and it feels super comfortable, and we’ve just got to keep it going.”
Eller wasn’t away from Washington for very long, but long enough for there to be an almost complete turnover in the coaching staff and for a good portion of the locker room to turn over as well.
In his 10 games back, Eller likes what he has seen and been part of with the Capitals.
“I’m really, really impressed with our back end,” says Eller. “That’s the biggest standout for me, is how well our [defensemen] move the puck and make decisions. They’re not throwing pucks away, they have poise, they can skate, they can jump up in the play, and they’re just very good at breaking out.
“As a result of that, we are not spending a lot of time in our [defensive] zone and we’re spending a lot of time in the offensive zone. There are lots of things that have been good, but that’s the one that stands out for me.”
We’ll have more on that in this space tomorrow, ahead of Saturday night’s match in Montreal.
Eighth Wonder – Tonight in Toronto – in their 50th year of existence – the Washington Capitals have a chance to establish a new franchise standard if they’re able to defeat the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
Just under a month ago, on Nov. 9 in St. Louis, the Caps drubbed the Blues 8-1, and they haven’t lost on the road since. Wins in Colorado, Vegas, Utah, Florida, Tampa and New Jersey followed. Washington achieved the first four of those road wins with captain Alex Ovechkin in the lineup, and The Great Eight scored seven goals to fuel the front half of the streak before going down with a fractured fibula in the Nov. 18 win in Salt Lake City.
Two years ago at this time, the Capitals had just started what would become a franchise-record seven-game road winning streak. The streak started in Edmonton on Dec. 5, 2022 and ended a month later with the seventh victory coming in Columbus on Jan. 5, 2023.
That record was almost four decades in the making. For the first four seasons of their existence the Caps failed to win consecutive road games. In each of the next four seasons, the best road “streak” they could cobble together was two. When the team finally made the playoffs for the first time in 1982-83, they set a modest franchise mark with three straight road wins.
The 1983-84 Capitals – the first Washington team to eclipse 100 points – strung together six straight road wins to double the previous mark. But those ’83-84 Caps dropped their first four road games of the season, then had two road winning streaks of four games and one of five games before setting the mark by winning each of their last six road games of the season – on six separate road trips, believe it or not – from Feb. 26 to April 1, 1984.
Over the years, the Caps had five more five-game road winning streaks before they matched the franchise mark in 2010-11. Then they had seven more streaks of five before finally hitting the seven mark two seasons ago.
During the life of their current seven-game winning streak on the road, the Caps have outscored the opposition by a combined total of 39-17.
In The Nets – Charlie Lindgren gets the net tonight for the Caps in Toronto. Lindgren is seeking his eighth victory of the season tonight; he has won four of his last five starts. Lindgren has earned four of the seven victories on the Caps’ current seven-game road winning streak.
In eight career appearances (seven starts) against the Leafs, Lindgren is 2-5-0 with a 4.40 GAA and an .887 save pct.
Although Joseph Woll is 4-0-0 in as many career starts against Washington, the Leafs are saving him for Saturday night in Pittsburgh. Anthony Stolarz is the starter tonight against Washington. The big New Jersey native is now in his eighth NHL season and toiling for his fifth organization, and he is picking up right where he left o9ff last season as a Stanley Cup champion with the Florida Panthers.
Stolarz started a career high 24 games for the Cats last season, and his 2.03 GAA and .925 save pct. were both tops in the NHL. With the Leafs this season, he is sitting at 2.23 and .924 in 14 starts, with an 8-4-2 record.
Stolarz won his only career start against the Capitals, on Feb. 24 of this year in Sunrise when he was with the Panthers. He stopped 22 of 24 shots and won the overtime decision on Gustav Forsling’s goal in the extra session.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Caps and the Maple Leafs might look when they take to the ice on Friday night in Toronto:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
21-Protas, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 16-Raddysh
29-Lapierre, 20-Eller, 88-Mangiapane
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 63-Miroshnichenko
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 3-Roy
6-Chychrun, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
48-Thompson
Extras
13-Vrana
27-Alexeyev
52-McIlrath
Out/Injured
8-Ovechkin (fractured fibula)
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
77-Oshie (back)
TORONTO
Forwards
23-Knies, 34-Matthews, 16-Marner
29-Holmberg, 91-Tavares, 88-W. Nylander
89-Robertson, 39-Minten, 18-Lorentz
71-Grebenkin, 24-Dewar, 75-Reaves
Defensemen
44-Rielly, 51-Myers
95-Ekman-Larsson, 8-Tanev
2-Benoit, 25-Timmins
Goaltenders
41-Stolarz
60-Woll
Extras
83-Rifai
92-A. Nylander
Out/Injured
11-Domi (lower body)
19-Jarnkrok (lower body)
22-McCabe (upper body)
28-Hakanpaa (lower body)
64-Kampf (lower body)
67-Pacioretty (lower body)
74-McMann (lower body)
